"Don’t just eat the stir-fried bacon with Artemisia, now that we’re back in Jiangzhou, are you worried you can’t find this dish?"
Xiong Bingsheng saw everyone snatching that plate of stir-fried bacon with Artemisia, each pair of chopsticks moving quickly, and couldn’t help but laugh. He said aloud,
"Try some other dishes; this chopped pepper fish head, kung pao chicken, they’re just as good as the stir-fried bacon with Artemisia!"
"Exactly! Teacher Xiong is so right. This chopped pepper fish head is the top dish in our Xiang Cuisine, how could it not be as good as the stir-fried bacon with Artemisia?"
Chen Lei was in particularly high spirits today, especially seeing so many fellow junior classmates working in sports-related fields like her. She was overjoyed and, laughing, chimed in,
"I’m telling you, if you don’t start soon, you might not even have a chance to try it later!"
"Really?"
Wang Dongkai turned to glance at Chen Lei, and with a laugh, said, "Since Sister Chen says so, I must have a good taste of it!"
Saying this, he picked up a piece of fish cheek with chopsticks and put it into his mouth.
As soon as the fish entered his mouth, Wang Dongkai was momentarily stunned, and after a while, he snapped back to reality, immediately grabbing nearly half of the fish cheek into his bowl and began eating with his head lowered.
Wang Dongkai’s big moves didn’t go unnoticed by others present, all seasoned at spotting these things.
This guy, who usually likes to quietly prosper, is now silently scooping up half a bowl of fish and eating with his head down. If the chopped pepper fish head wasn’t delicious, no one would believe it!
So, everyone, one after the other, stopped competing for the already nearly depleted stir-fried bacon with Artemisia, and picked up their chopsticks heading for the large plate of chopped pepper fish head.
Not only them, even Chen Lei couldn’t resist. She believed that any dish Xiaojiang cooked would be delicious, and the chopped pepper fish head was no exception. But she hadn’t expected that after Wang Dongkai took a bite, he’d silently gobble it down!
Does that need asking? Surely Wang Dongkai was afraid others would come and grab it!
Just how delicious could this chopped pepper fish head be to make Wang Dongkai act like this?
Thinking of this, she hurriedly picked up her chopsticks and reached towards the plate of chopped pepper fish head.
"Wow! This fish is so tender and smooth, I feel like I haven’t even had time to chew before it slipped down into my stomach!"
"Wow! It’s my first time tasting such fresh chopped pepper fish head. The spiciness is secondary; the key is the freshness, so fresh that every pore in my body is opening!"
"Ah! Quickly try this scallion stir-fried lamb, it’s totally different from what we’ve eaten before—it’s not dry at all, but tender, juicy, with no smell of gaminess!"
"Waaah, these dishes are so delicious, our national team’s chef can’t make anything this good!"
"..."
Besides Chen Lei and a few others, the rest of the alumni were actually quite older, but relatively lively.
Because of this, whenever this group sat together for a meal, it was always particularly lively.
Especially today, after they finished ’snatching’ the stir-fried bacon with Artemisia, they began ’snatching’ the chopped pepper fish head, and then started ’snatching’ the scallion stir-fried lamb... They seemed to have endless energy, ’snatching’ one dish after another.
As if the snatched dishes would really taste better.
Even the older senior brothers and sisters like Chen Lei were infected by this atmosphere, eagerly joining the "food snatching" battle.
The whole private room was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
"Everyone, take your time eating, no need to rush, there are still dishes that haven’t been served yet."
Looking at this group of alumni eating with flushed faces and bright eyes, completely ignoring their image, Xiong Bingsheng couldn’t help but smile happily, secretly thankful.
Luckily, earlier he tasted a bit of every dish while everyone was busy ’snatching’ the stir-fried bacon with Artemisia, so now at least he had some base in his stomach, otherwise, how could he have the face to compete for food with these alumni?
He took a sip of juice, picked up his chopsticks again to reach for the Kung Pao chicken in front of him, leisurely picking up a peanut and tossing it into his mouth, savoring it with his eyes closed:
They all say, in this world only love and food cannot be missed.
Love should be talked about slowly, and food should, of course, be tasted slowly.
Like this, snatching and gobbling, how can one truly appreciate the marvelous flavors of these dishes!